Back
in August 2003, when Skype was first officially launched, it was a huge deal.
Video chats over the internet suddenly got a lot simpler and easy to
use. Thus a lot of people started using it, which resulted in its huge success.
Skype connected people all over the world for a nominal charge, which is of
course now free. The company, over the years introduced many features, and made
Skype one of the top tools used for video chatting and Voip calls.
People connected to each other on Skype, can also text each other, receive
calls, send and receive images and other files with each other.
But
now that we are in 2016, Skype has some serious competitors. Although it is
still among the top utilities for video conferencing and video calling over the
Internet, Skype is not able to cater to every user’s needs due to its design
limitations, so if you are also looking for some alternatives for Skype , look
no further.
These were some of the top alternatives to Skype below, you can use the
service that is most useful to you….
Google is
a major competitor when it comes to offering voip and video calls over the
Internet. Google offers ,Google hangouts integrated with google+. Google
Hangouts is exceptionally full of features, free features when it comes to
functionality. You can chat , text, Voip call or Video call over the internet
via google hangouts. Not only that you can also group chat, with your friends,
colleagues, relatives, anyone you like, for free. You can have up-to 10 members
simultaneously in a group chat, in Google Hangouts and chat with all of them.
If you are not a resident of USA or Canada, Google will charge you a nominal
fee, when you use Voip calls via Google Hangouts.
The amount Google charges for
this service, is the lowest when compared to its competitors, making it a great
choice for you. Apart from using the usual services, you can also use Hangouts
on Air. This service allows you to broadcast your Hangout, around the globe
simultaneously. You can use this feature to broadcast interviews, discussions,
performances etc, around the globe to make it available for everybody to watch.
Google will also post a video of this hangout on your Youtube channel via your
YouTube account, so that you can view it later as well.
What
sets Google Hangouts apart from Skype is that Skype requires you to download a
third party program, on your Pc in order to use Skype, where as Google Hangouts
only needs your login information for a google account or a google+ account, to
log into Hangouts and then you can start a Voip or Video call directly from the
browser. This makes it much easier and hassle free to use, and can also be used
easily from various different platforms and devices.
UberConference
is a trusted and widely used service when it comes to Audio Conferencing.
People around the globe, corporates and citizens alike, trust UberConference
for an uninterrupted and service and flawless experience. It does not offer
Video Conferencing or Video chat, but can allow you to audio conference with
up-to 100 persons at once. It also has many important features that make it an
ideal candidate when it comes to Audio Conferencing over the Internet.
It
offers both , a paid and a free membership. The free membership just has
restricted access to all the features, and hence you may want a paid
membership, if you plan to use them to their full extent. Even though, both
memberships offer these in common
–
You can have Unlimited Conferences online in both the memberships.
–
Free members can conference with up-to 10 members, where as paid members can
conference with up-to a 100 users
–
HD audio quality, with the option to record the chat, and lock it also, for
privacy purposes.
–
Connected to your LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+ and other accounts as well
All
in all, UberConference is an excellent choice for Voip calls and Audio
Conferencing, and is trusted by the majority.
3- VSee
Originally
a Medical consultation website, VSee can also be used for personal purposes. It
was developed as a medium to provide medical consultation over the Internet, to
people that do not have easy access to such facilities.. The app still caters
to these needs, but also offers Unlimited group video calls for any user. You
can use this feature to your benefit.
Advantages
of VSee over Skype
1-
Uses 50% less bandwidth when compared to Skype
2-
720p Video quality
3-
Easy File Sharing between users
VSee
offers both paid and Free memberships for its users. If you are currently a
student, you can use your .edu email id to sign up for VSee and get the paid benefits
for free..
1-
Unlimited Group Video Chats
2-
Instant Messaging
3-
File Sharing
4- Voca
Voca
is a tool released primarily for the mobile platforms. It is compatible with
both, iOS and android, and works flawlessly in both the environments. It is one
of the best alternatives to Skype in terms of Voip Calling. As far as Voip
calling is concerned, Voca offers free International calls to its users, over
the internet, you can use it to place a call to any country in the world. Not
everything is free, many features of the tool are paid, but the prices are
nominal and fairly convincing, if you plan to use the tool for its designed
purpose. You can also make encrypted calls , all over the globe and even send
encrypted text messages for a small amount of fee.
Voca
has a great user interface on both the platforms and all of its features are
very well integrated into its design. It offers free messages to its users as
well, and the connection quality is fairly good when it comes to VOIP. All in
all Voca is a serious competitor to Skype in every aspect and offers good
service. The payment method also resembles that of a prepaid plan, where you
refill your Voca account with some credit, and the tool shows you exactly how
many minutes of Talking time you have left before you need to refill again.
5- Viber
Viber
was a fairly new introduction in the world of Voip calling. It started off as a
mobile app on android and iOS, offering Voip calling all over the world. Viber
from there grew and became the tool it is today. Viber is now available for
Windows as well as Mac users and now offers the ability to video call as well.
Viber is one of those hassle free services that rarely require any maintenance
and you can just sit back, relax and use the service. Viber is completely ad
free and has no ads plaguing it what so ever. Viber now gives you the ability
to make Voip calls as well as video calls all over the world, the only
condition being that , Viber be installed on both the devices. You can use it
to call any landline or cellphone number worldwide as well, Viber will charge
you a small fee for this service , which is fairly acceptable when it comes to
the pricing by some of its counterparts.
6- Oovoo
This
is another service on the lines of Viber, fairly new and targeted at the
younger generation, Oovoo offers you the ability to video chat, conference and
text between its users. This service is available for all major platforms
including Windows, Mac, IOS and android, and offers higher resolution video
quality , compared to many of its counterparts. You can also Video chat with
your friends, family, colleagues etc, and have upto 12 members per chat. You
can also record voice calls for later use, and even share your screen.
This
feature is extremely useful if the users are trying to experience something
together, or just teach something to each other. You can also send files of
various extensions to each other and exchange different media. Oovoo , can also
one click upload a recorded video to YouTube. This feature is extremely useful
and handy for all the YouTubers out there. Oovoo also has a paid version, which
offers vast improvements over the free package. The paid package is ad free,
with 1000 minutes of additional storage and the ability to make Voip calls to
cellphones and landlines.
Note:
Unlike other services out there, Oovoo calls can also be answered via FaceBook
and do not need you to have Oovoo installed.
7- GoToMeeting,
GoToWebinar And GoToTraining
GoToMeeting
is a very popular and very famous web service for Video Conferencing. Its
partners in crime, GoToWebinar and GoToTraining are branches of the same
service, offering the ability to conduct webinars and trainings respectively.
GoToMeeting is widely trusted service for video conferencing, used by many
corporate companies and start -ups alike. Unlike its counterparts, and other competitors,
GoToMeeting offers only paid service to its users, although you can sign up for
a one month trial and then carry on as a member. You can use the one month
trial offer to give all of its features a shot and test the reliability of the
service.
Although i should tell you that it is arguably one of the best out
there , that’s available for all users. GoToMeeting will charge you 49$ a month
for its service and provide you with some of the best in its category features
–
Ability to have unlimited meetings with users
–
Up-to 25 users per every meeting
–
HD Audio and Video quality
–
Support for Windows, mac, iOS , android and other devices
–
Ability to share screens with all the members of the meetings
–
Ability to draw and highlight on the shared screen
–
Send files
Similarly
GoToWebinar and GoToTraining are services that offer you the ability to conduct
webinars and training sessions with majority of the above stated features and
more
8- FaceTime
FaceTime
is another service out there that offers the ability to make video calls over
the Internet. Sadly, this service is exclusively available only for iOS and Mac
users. Apple natively launched its Video calling application, FaceTime to
connect all the users on apple devices.
FaceTime offers you the ability to make
HD quality video calls to all other FaceTime users free of cost, and share your
moments.
FaceTime
comes bundled with most apple devices, if not , you can always download it from
the AppStore.
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